Tomb Raider interview: The apocalyptic art of Lara Croft

When Tomb Raider—the reboot of the game franchise with which it shares a name—came out earlier in March, many a column inch was devoted to Lara Croft's evolution from archaeological adventurer to concerningly capable killer. Rather fewer were given over to the use of apocalyptic artwork, invisible cameramen, birth metaphors, and emotional color palettes. To redress the balance, Wired.co.uk quizzed Brian Horton, Senior Art Director at Crystal Dynamics, on all of the above and then a little bit more.

The Tomb Raider games are iconic—how do you even get started reworking a game with such a strong visual legacy?

As a fan of the classic games, I played Tomb Raider 1 and 2 again to remember why I loved them so much. Lara Croft was a confident and totally capable anti-hero, but she didn't have much room to grow in ability or characterization.

Our concept was a simple one that allowed us to rework Lara's look and abilities; an inexperienced Lara Croft on her first expedition, her ship crashes on an island and she must do whatever it takes to survive. To believe in this survival story, we grounded Lara, and her world, making both as realistic as we could.

We removed Lara's experience and confidence but we retained her intelligence, curiosity, and determination. These changes gave us room to allow her to grow as a character. It was exciting and scary at the same time, we knew it would be a bold change for Tomb Raider and we were happy with the positive reception when we announced the reboot in 2009.

OK, so in terms of Lara herself, how did her look progress and how did you know when you'd got it right?

Lara's look took a lot of exploration and iteration. Lara went through many incarnations, at one point she had a more classic look with a young girl as a companion—she even had a monkey as a helper in one version!

Brenoch Adams (Art Director) and I went through the design process together. We were inspired by characters in films and TV, like Ellen Ripley from Aliens, Kate from Lost, John Rambo from First Blood, and even John McClane from Die Hard. All of these heroes relate to a common theme; they are real people in a horrible survival situation. They get hurt and express emotion, but find the inner strength to keep moving and prevail.

We wanted this young Lara to look like a girl you knew while retaining some of the iconic qualities of Lara Croft. We made her body frame more petite, her face less chiseled, and her clothes are practical, with dual tank tops, cargo pants, and boots. We retained some iconic elements, like her brown eyes, her "M" shaped upper lip and the ponytail. We did a focus test on the final concept and it tested very well, most people were more drawn to her face than they were to her body.

To bring the concept to life, we purchased real clothes and hired two models to scan, one for the body and one for the face. This was just a foundation for us to achieve the believability, our Principal Character Artist, Kam Yu, refined this data over the course of a month to finalize the model you see in the game today.

Square Enix

There were hints of The Hunger Games and Katniss Everdeen in Lara's look too although I gather that was coincidental. Do you think they both tap into a how we are trying to portray women at the moment or is it something else entirely?

We weren't even aware of TheHunger Games when we finalized Lara's look and the bow as her new signature weapon.

I do think this happens in our culture, where themes emerge from different places and seem to connect. We feel Lara is one of the most influential female heroes in all media, but we knew the 90s represented different values for a hero. Our interpretation is in line with what we like to see in our heroes today, flaws are as important as strengths.

In terms of visual reference points what were your inspirations, either in terms of other games or in terms of artworks? I thought I detected a touch of John Martin apocalyptica in the opening sections...

For inspiration we looked at movies like Apocalypse Now and The Descent. They have a dark beauty to them that we wanted to capture in Tomb Raider. The John Martin painting is amazing and while not an immediate reference, it was in line with the paintings we were inspired by from Turner, Bierstadt, and Church. They created some of the most amazing natural wonders that look beautiful but ominous; showing how nature can be scary. These influences were the foundation of bringing personality to the island of Yamatai.

How did you reflect the "Survivor is Born" theme visually?

The beginning of the game is kind of a metaphor for her birth; she struggles out of the darkness of the caverns and emerges to the light of the cliff side. This is her birth, she's thrust into this situation and she can't go back. Her evolution through the game is a continuation of this journey, she has to confront her fears and keep moving forward.

As well as the sympathetic geography, changes in color palette are linked to Lara's character evolution. Could you explain a bit more about how that works?

We use color as a way to express emotion. These colors will change and evolve throughout the story to reflect Lara's state of mind. For instance, we start the game in cool tones—the fire is the one source of light and warmth, and this represents the player's hope, as well as a tool for survival. Then at the end of the level we take away the fire as she scrambles up the muddy incline, a pinhole of light closes in as the cave starts to crumble until we go to black. When Lara emerges she's bathed in warm light.

It's a deliberate color choice to provide relief and accomplishment. The audio team takes these cues to create music and sound that complement these emotions perfectly, with dissonant percussion in the caverns, and a piano as she emerges onto the cliff path.

Square Enix

I noticed you used a fair amount of lens flare and water effects—why do you think we like to be reminded of a camera that technically doesn't exist?

We wanted this game to be presented as if it were a documentary of her first adventure. Effects like lens flares, dirt, water, and blood splashes on the lens add aesthetics to this documentary, further immersing players into our fictional world. Remi Lacoste is the genius behind the cinematography in this game and his camera performance complemented this vision and brought the virtual cameraman to life.

How did you translate the violence and emotion of the first kill into a visual experience?

We wanted to express the gravity of death through gameplay. We started this with a deer, which Lara has to kill to survive. She has empathy for the deer before she harvests it for food; it's a sacrifice she has to make to survive. When she's confronted with wolves, they will not hesitate to kill Lara so she must take an aggressive stance to survive them. Finally, we present the player with a human, but a sadistic, amoral enemy: we deliberately want the player to feel disgust, and a palpable sense of menace.

The moment where Lara has to kill a human for the first time must feel justified, but also powerful and revelatory: this moment changes her, and from that point on she and the player understand that killing is the only way she can survive the insanity of this island.

Were there any ideas you loved but couldn't make work?

There are a lot of ideas that we really like that didn't make the game. Some of them would fit into the new format, some, while cool, will never quite work. For instance we had an epic battle on the beach level that had Lara fending off a siege of Solarii with a mounted machinegun. While fun, it didn't really fit her character and upped the kill count to unrealistic proportions. We spent a lot of time on it, but cut it because it didn't fit the game.

What are you proudest of in relation to the game?

The team is proud of the game we made. Even before it hit retail we knew it was the best game we could make. We sacrificed time away from family to ensure it was true to our vision, looked great, and was fun to play. This kind of game doesn't come around often, and I'm honored to have been a part of it.

Didn't expect it but it was perhaps the best game I have played this year. Game play, level design etc. heavily influenced by uncharted. (which is a good thing) but the thing I really liked was the whole atmosphere. The letters of the Japanese soldiers, the inhabitants who have gone crazy and murderous, some Japanese zombies, it all played very nicely together and felt more like a single story than the one cool setpiece after another approach uncharted is going.

Overall I thought this was an extremely good game. The only section I didn't enjoy was the 'parachuting through the trees' bit, which took me several frustrating attempts to do. I've also always preferred the 'stay in cover to heal' model over the 'use a health pack' model, so I was pleased to see this game adopt that.

However, the scene where Lara kills for the first time (which is supposed to be a very emotional moment) was spoiled for me by what appeared to be an overly-picky Quick Time Event. Took me three goes to get it right for some reason (XBox version), so although it *was* emotional, mostly the emotion I was feeling was 'annoyance'. And, as has been pointed out elsewhere, less than five minutes later she's slaughtering bad guys like Rambo on meth.

The use of the bow and arrows in this game contrasted nicely with the bow and arrows in Crysis 3 - I spent a great deal of time in that game shouting "Guard number 173 - you have failed this city!" *thwip**thunk!* (if you don't get the reference it's from the TV series 'Arrow').

So my wife thought she was going to get a break when we started playing Tomb Raider, only for me to pick up the bow and then face a deer. The conversation went something like:

In the middle of playing this game now, and have to agree with some other posters, very good game, I'm pleasantly surprised by it, the scenery is beautiful -- I think the last time I spent so much time running around just looking at the scenery in a game was when I was playing Half-Life 2.

The only part I hate so far is the Dragon's Lair type portions of the game where you have to time your button presses to signals on screen --

Spoiler: show

especially the one with the wolf and with the guy when you first get the pistol

. Very annoying and they took me out of the game for a bit since I apparently can't mash left/right fast enough or in the correct rhythm and had to do those parts over about 10 times each.

There is one problem that I noticed with the other pretty games (Crysis 3, FC3) that have come out recently - the graphics are so good that you look around going, 'Wow, that's cool,' and fail to notice that people are shooting at you until they hit.

The one thing that really sold it, though, were the small animation details: Lara touching a wall to steady herself as she rounds a corner, etc. These added greatly to the sense of immersion.

I thought this game was great and it was the attention to detail that really made it. When Lara is opening those treasure chests in the Tombs, you can see her arms quiver with the weight, That's realistic. Although Lara is apparently a ninja warrior+10, she can scramble up ledges and rock faces with ease, has incredible vertical leap, and can choke out full grown men with her bow. I think they could have made her character model a little more muscular and slightly less chesty.

I also did not get the emotional first-kill thing because 5 seconds later she is sniping guys in the neck with her arrows. She gives solid snake or a assassins creed a run for his money in terms of sheer killing. Even snake can get through an entire game without killing anyone.

There is a neat scene in the game that is an ode to Rambo where she heats up an arrowhead and cauterizes a wound in her side. that's badass.

Did anyone else start to develop a twitch every time someone said "you can do this" or she said "I can do this"?

It was starting to feel a bit Bioshock-y "would you kindly".

After I'd finished the game I started mooching around the forest area looking for the stuff I'd missed the first time around. I accidentally - and I swear it was accidentally - shot a deer with an explosive-tipped arrow. My wife then calmly took the controller from me, and proceeded to do her level best to depopulate the forest. Explosively. The carnage was *horrible*.

There is one problem that I noticed with the other pretty games (Crysis 3, FC3) that have come out recently - the graphics are so good that you look around going, 'Wow, that's cool,' and fail to notice that people are shooting at you until they hit.

Heh! Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I had a moment like that in Crysis 3 that went something like:

Me: Wow! Just *look* at that water!Wife: Just look at those three guys shooting at you?Me: What guys...oh.

There is one problem that I noticed with the other pretty games (Crysis 3, FC3) that have come out recently - the graphics are so good that you look around going, 'Wow, that's cool,' and fail to notice that people are shooting at you until they hit.

Heh! Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I had a moment like that in Crysis 3 that went something like:

Me: Wow! Just *look* at that water!Wife: Just look at those three guys shooting at you?Me: What guys...oh.

*reload level*

Well that's not so bad. It's when they're shooting at you and you can't find them, that there's a problem.

There is one problem that I noticed with the other pretty games (Crysis 3, FC3) that have come out recently - the graphics are so good that you look around going, 'Wow, that's cool,' and fail to notice that people are shooting at you until they hit.

Heh! Yes, I know exactly what you mean. I had a moment like that in Crysis 3 that went something like:

Me: Wow! Just *look* at that water!Wife: Just look at those three guys shooting at you?Me: What guys...oh.

*reload level*

Well that's not so bad. It's when they're shooting at you and you can't find them, that there's a problem.

This game just looks and feels great. Sometimes Lara is actually too believable as a human, and you start to question how she can keep hanging from all these rails and cliff edges without completely exhausting herself. Incredible upper-body strength on that girl.

I liked the game very much, but two things took me out of my immersion for a bit:The injuries she sustains in cinematics in the first part of the game (up to shantytown) should cripple her (if not kill), or at least make her unable to do anything more than limp slowly,And the often mentioned brisk transformation from an innocent girl to Rambette. I think they could do at least one or two cinematic scenes where she pleads to the bad guys to let her go, because she doesn't want to kill anyone.

There are several places in game where she is freezing with teeth chattering and all in the cutscenes; then a little fire and she never gets cold for the rest of the game...I loved the game to death and is definitely worth your time but after a while it really did break the immersion.

This game just looks and feels great. Sometimes Lara is actually too believable as a human, and you start to question how she can keep hanging from all these rails and cliff edges without completely exhausting herself. Incredible upper-body strength on that girl.

friedzombie456 wrote:

There are several places in game where she is freezing with teeth chattering and all in the cutscenes; then a little fire and she never gets cold for the rest of the game...I loved the game to death and is definitely worth your time but after a while it really did break the immersion.

Gripes like this make it sound like the developers have largely succeeded in creating a game that makes the player question the realities and limitations of their heroic protagonist. If people now feel like their "immersion is broken" in Tomb Raider because of small details like this, it means the overall feeling of Lara being an *actual* person has been captured quite splendidly.

I don't know if this is my favorite game of all time, but it's certainly one of a few. The term perma-death got into my vocabulary with the XCOM game of late last year. I loved it. It's a completely different game, but the concept of loss is important -- at least for me.

Tomb Raider doesn't have perma-death, but it makes up for it in the details like those already mentioned. I genuinely don't want her to fall or get shot, so it gets tense. And sometimes fight scenes take a long time for me. Contrast that to CoD type games (or the laser tag mentality as I call it) where I know I can get hit some and I use that to my advantage.

Tomb Raider was a fantastic game. Yet what I really don't understand is how SquareEnix has basically called it a failure. I wouldn't call selling 3.5 million copies in less then a month a failure lol. What this seems to me to be is that Square was expecting to offset it's losses from Final Fantasy Online which of coarse was a massive failure. Yet it also highlights just how out of touch Square is with western markets these days. I don't see how Tomb Raider is anything but a huge success. It has already in it's short history outsold all of it's previous ventures outside the original. It has receive almost universal acclaim and is among this year candidates for game of the year I believe.

What a slap in the fact to Crystal Dramatics which clearly has created among this year best titles. Yet you would never know that talking to SquareEnix. I really don't understand the Japanese as they seem to never be satisfied with anything. Would they change their tone if they realized that Tomb Raider has already outsold every Final Fantasy release to date in North America! Add to this that even Uncharted 2 sold just over 3 million units. Uncharted 3 was slightly less so I think that puts things into perspective. Not to mention done it in half the time which doesn't even count digital sales at that lol. That might not be sitting to well with them but then again no reason to pass the buck is it.

As Final Fantasy's failures are by their own doing. These numbers are great by anyone's standards and clearly shows how disconnected the Japanese gaming industry is from the rest of the world. Expecting Tomb Raider was going to make up for that loss was both unrealistic not to mention a bit greedy. Crystal Dramatics did an outstanding job. Which is more then I could have ever expected from this reboot. SquareEnix has clearly lost it's marbles this time around. Rarely do I feel a connection with a character like I did with Lara in this version. In contrast as in the case of Uncharted. Instead of making Nathan Drake someone you cared about.

They made him a hero instead which wasn't that interesting. It was more the fact that he stayed Nathan Drake. He's Nathan Fillion minus the charm, with the invincibility of John Cena, Edward Cullen's hair jell and the luck of an offspring of a rabbit's foot in a field of four leaf clovers. Being smug and annoying may be a relatable character flaw but it's not an endearing one. Yet in contrast Lara was someone I actually cared about. She didn't have any of those traits in the beginning but a strong will to survive and to endure. While the transition from survivalist to capable hunter might have been a bit jarring at first. it's not that unheard of either.

I remember reading a story of a Air Force pilot who was shot down by VC during the Vietnam war. He survived for weeks in the jungle fighting off enemy solders and living off the land. He came close to death several times but still somehow survived. Or the more recent story of Shin Dong-hyuk a North Korean prisoner which escaped from the Gulag death camps of which only there have even done so. While I am not trying to compare Tomb Raider to real life as it is a game after all. I did get that real since of danger and can only imagine what Lara must have been going through. It would certainly change your perspective on things wouldn't it. In closing it will take you a good 20+ hours just to finish the main story arc which doesn't count all the side missions.

Not bad for what most in the adventure genre run half that. While it isn't a sandbox like FarCry 3. It holds up very well on it's own with some of the best platforming, art direction, combat mechanics the series has ever seen. Which then makes me question again why SquareEnix is releasing DLC's for what is arguably the worse part of the game in it's online multiplayer. I would love to explore more of what makes Lara tick in a single player campaign. Then ruin it with unnecessary fluff as Square is so keen on doing. If sales are the only thing they are concerned with. Then maybe should stick to selling games for the Japanese market!! It deserves everything it has achieved here & is among this years best titles by far.